DESCRIPTION:
The venerable Phantom design dates back to 1955 when the US Navy requested a fleet defense fighter with a
powerful radar and armed only with air-to-air missiles. By the early 1960s, the Air Force realized that
the Phantom, with its outstanding flight performance and payload, was superior to any of its own aircraft
in use at the time. The Air Force purchased 583 F-4Cs little different from the Navy's F-4Bs and 773 F-4Ds
with improved radar and ground attack capability. The Phantom saw considerable action in the Vietnam War
where its lack of an onboard gun was found to be a considerable disadvantage. This was rectified in the
F-4E, which also included more powerful engines and updated radar. The final US version of the Phantom was
the F-4G 'Wild Weasel' defense suppression aircraft tasked with destroying enemy surface-to-air missiles
(SAMs) and their radar. Including those for allied air forces, over 5,100 examples of the Phantom were
built. The final US model in service, the F-4G 'Wild-Weasel' defense-suppression aircraft, was withdrawn
in 1998. Those models still in service elsewhere are due for replacement soon.